Several processes and products have previously been developed to fabricate printed pieces that display an illustrative image which appears to be three dimensional (3-D) when viewed, giving the illusion of depth to the image. For example, 3-D images produced by a printing procedure are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,745, which discloses a process having different segments of an image printed by an in-line printing system on sequential transparent layers of material, with one segment of the image, such as the background for example, printed on a paper stock material which forms the bottom layer of the finished product. The final image produces the appearance of depth since the various segments of the image are actually at a distance from each other.
Additionally, virtual three-dimensional printed images have been formed using a combination of lenticular transparent sheet material through which a line formed image, printed on paper or other sheet stock, is viewed. Specially designed photographic techniques are used to produce a line formed image of the subject matter to be displayed, and the array of line formed images thus printed are perceived as a single image when viewed through the lenticular transparent sheet when the lenses of the transparent sheet and the printed line formed images are in proper alignment. U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,950, and earlier patents referred to therein, disclose apparatus and methods for forming such line formed images by single sheet fed, one at a time, printing processes. However, these one at a time printing processes have been found to be unsuitable for producing high volume printed products such as required for mass mailings or other mass distribution, inserts for widely circulated magazines, and the like, due to the higher production costs and lengthy time required for such one at a time processes. In the high volume advertising and mass printing production industries, rapid turn around time is essential.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,950 discloses a photography based system for forming a latent line formed image on extruded plastic lenticular transparent photography-based continuous print film from a set of frames of negative images. The printer has an edit station at which images from a number of frames of negative images are generated and visually displayed, and selected data signals for the images are processed to produce key subject identifier signals indicative of the content and location of areas. These signals are compared with signals from other frames. A photographic print station separately projects the image of each frame onto print film.
The image formed beneath the lenticular transparent surface is a line formed image, and is aligned or registered under the array of lenticular lenses. Light passes through the lenses, and the focal length of the lenses focuses lines of light behind the lens array. The spatial frequency of the line formed image is matched to the foci of the lenses formed in the lenticular film. Each image is an independent line behind the lens, and each lens is divided into eight segments. The light passing through the lens is broken into eight segments. The reflected light from the image emerges in eight zones, and the right and left eyes of the viewer observe the reflected light in parallax. The eyes only see a pair of images at one time, but as the eye scans, different pairs of images are viewed, providing in one embodiment the appearance of depth in the image, or a three dimensional image. Also, by placing different images on different lines, the image can be made to change in the eyes of the viewer, whereby the viewed picture becomes animated and changes as the angle from which the image is viewed is altered.
The photographic printer taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,950 does not provide a single in-line web offset, flexographic or rotogravure ink printing process having various screen values or a method of mass producing a printed image as provided by the present invention. Costs are extremely high, and production slow with the process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,950.
Therefore, there exists a need for a lower cost, high speed, high volume printing production system which supplies large quantities of virtual three dimensional image printed products utilizing techniques and materials which incorporate lenticular transparent material and line formed printed screened, i.e.: dotted or spotted, images in proper register beneath the array of lenses found in the lenticular transparent material.
A particular printing process suitable for use with the present invention, in addition to those previously mentioned, is a stochastic high resolution screening system. In a stochastic screening system, traditional screening rules and dot patterns aligned on fixed grids are varied. Instead, halftone dots are replaced with picture images built upon spots created by laser imagesetters. The spots are made to appear more or less often, as required, in a controlled random pattern that creates picture density variations. The randomly placed spots are created at a single uniform size, or alternatively, in patterns having variances in both spot sizes and spot frequency. The computer directs the imagesetter to place more or fewer spots in the picture area, based on the lightness and darkness of the original color area. The "random" placement of spots is actually carefully calculated and performed by algorithims. It is to be understood that the term "printing" in the present description includes stochastic high resolution printing processes.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process for rapidly producing high volumes of printed products which create an illusion of depth in the perception of the viewer of the image.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a continuous in-line roll fed web offset, flexographic or rotogravure printing process incorporating roll fed lenticular transparent web material, preferably made of plastic or other suitable material, and roll fed paper web stock material, wherein line formed images are printed on the lenticular stock, on the paper stock, or both. The lenticular transparent material is automatically brought into proper and precise register with the line formed image on the paper stock in one embodiment, and a large volume of virtual three dimensional images products are produced in a short time span. In another embodiment, the line formed image is printed on the flat underside of the lenticular web in precise register with the lenses formed on the top side of the lenticular web so that a single image having depth is visible through the lenses.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a continuous in-line printing process incorporating a roll fed web of lenticular transparent material having a multiple lens side and an opposite flat surface, wherein a line formed image is printed on the flat surface of the lenticular transparent material, and additional printing ink is subsequently applied to the flat surface over the line formed image to provide an opaque backing for the image when viewed through the array of multiple lenses formed in the first surface of the lenticular transparent material. If desired, additional printed images and/or test material can be applied on the flat underside of the lenticular material over the additional ink forming the opaque backing. Also, if desired, trimmed paper stock can be glue laminated to the flat underside after the printing steps described above are completed to provide additional strength to the finished product, as well as an additional surface to which printed images and/or text can be applied.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a continuous in-line printing process incorporating roll fed lenticular transparent material and roll fed opaque paper stock material wherein a line formed image is formed on a flat undersurface of the lenticular transparent material, and trimmed segments of the paper stock material are adhered to the flat undersurface of the transparent material after the line formed image has been printed on the flat undersurface to provide a backing for the reflection of light when products produced by the process are viewed through the array of lenses on the upper surface of the lenticular transparent material.
In each of the finished products mentioned above, the line formed image situated beneath and in proper register with the lens array formed in the lenticular surface of the transparent material appears as a three dimensional object to the viewer. If the line formed image to be viewed is printed by placing different images on alternating different lines, the viewed image will change as the angle from which the image is viewed changes.
These and other objects of the various embodiments of the present invention, as well as the advantages thereof, will become more evident from the following disclosure.